Protected package for the shipment of sheet metal



10. 31, 1933. A. H. MOON 1,932,558

I I PROTECTED PACKAGE FOR THE SHIPMENT 0F SHEET METAL Filed- Nov. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

850 5/, Meow gzwww A TTORNEYS Oct. 31, 1933. A. H. MOON 1,932,558

PROTECTED PACKAGE FOR THE SHIPMENT OF SHEET METAL Filed Nov. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Home A TTORNEY$ INVENTOR.

Patented Oct. 31, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PROTECTED PACKAGE FOR THE SHIPMIENT OF SHEET LIETAL Application November 21, 1930 Serial No. 497,209

9 Claims.

My invention relates primarily to shipments of sheet metal which are commercially, adequately protected from the action of the elementsfas well as other influences tending to mar or destroy 5 the utility of the sheets. An object of my invention, therefore, is the production of an improved package of protected character such, for example, as will be found useful in the making of export or water haul shipments. The usefulv ness of my invention is not, however, confined to this type of shipment, since equal protection is frequently necessary in domestic shipments or shipments not to be made by water. Indeed, through the practice of my invention I am enabled to make shipments with entire satisfaction in unprotected or open railway cars such as those of the gondola type.

An object of my invention is to achieve complete protection of the contents of my package in a unit bundle of the floating type, and to secure the said protection by a construction of the package such that the protective elements are a part thereof. Thus it becomes an object of my invention to provide a self-contained and fully protected package for the shipment of sheet; metal,

or the like.

These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construetion and arrangementbf parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment and a method of making it, reference being had to the drawings which form a part hereof. In these drawings, Figures 1 to 7inclusive, which are all perspective views, show the progressive stages in the formation of my package, and will be more particularly described hereinafter., Figure 8 is a perspective view of my completed package.

Figure 9 is a sectional view thereof.

Figure 10 is a partialside elevation of the complete package. t

I have shown in Figure 1 a series of temporary piling blocks which are placed in positionupon a floor or other suitable support upon which my package is to be formed. The purpose of these blocks which are temporary in character, is to permit me to pass encircling bands or tying members about the package after the sheets have been piled therein, and they will be placed in such position as to permit the application of the said bands or tying members while affording a substantial temporary support for the stack of sheets. They will be preferably offset from the position of the edges of the package, as is clearly age is so constructed as to form an adequate indicated in Figure 1, where I have shown a waster sheet 2, of the same size as the proposed bundle, placed in position upon the blocks 1.

The purpose of this waster sheet is several fold; it forms a support in connection with the tem- 60 porary blocks aforementioned for the stacking of t the metal sheets in forming the package; it is designed to become an integral part of the package, and as such it serves both as part of the outer covering thereof and as a means of protecting the paper wrapper presently to be described from tearing and abrasion by outside influences and by the several parts of my package.

Over this waster sheet 2 I place a sheet of 7 waterproof paper, or the like, 3 preferably sufficient in area to cover more than the entire outer surface of the proposed package. This is shown in Figure 2. The paper is so positioned that its extension beyond the waster sheet 2 is greater upon one side than the other, for a purpose hereinafter to be described. As shown in Figure 3,

. I next stack the metal sheets which I wish to. ship upon the paper 33, forming them into a pile 4 supported by the blocks and lying directly above the waster sheet 2. Havingdone this, I fold the paper about the package, first bringing up and over the top thereof the shorter overlapping side mentioned above. Next, as shown in Figure 4, I bring up the longer overlapping side, and then fold the endwise extensions of the paper down about the ends of my stack of sheets. The longer overlapping side mentioned is preferably of such size as to form a complete, unbroken covering for the top of the package, including the portion 3a adapted to extend downwardly upon the opposite side. Since one of the objects of my invention is to protect the pile of sheets 4 from the action of the water falling upon it, my packwater shed or a plurality of them; and one of the means employed by me is to so effect the wrapping of my bundle in the waterproof paper or fabric layer 3 as to provide it with a top covering which is continuous and unbroken.

As shown in Figure 5, I provide channel members 5 which may conveniently beformed of sheet metal bent so as to provide a back or flat side of the height of the pile of sheets 4 and substantially overlapping legs or flanges. As shown in Figure 5, the channels employed are longer than the package, and are positioned so as to overlap at either end. The upper leg of the channel engages over the top of the package and the waterproof paper covering 3, while the lower leg engages be- 110 neath the waster sheet 2. I may, of course, if desired, place a waster sheet over the top covering of waterproof paper before applying the channels, although this has not been found necessary. The channels are slit at their corners for a distance, which enables me to turn down back flanges 5a and top and bottom flanges 5b tightly against the ends of my package. The channels are usually applied in the direction of the longer dimension of the bundle; and I prefer to hold them in place permanently by means of ties 6 extending transversely around my package and tightened and held in any well known manner. The temporary stacking blocks 1 aforesaid permit the application of these tying members beneath and around the package. The ties may consist of bands or straps or metal, wires, or other commercial devices. Metal bands have some advantage in holding the channels 5 in place because of their relatively small thickness.

As also shown in Figure 6, I protect the ends of my package with end channel members 7, generally similar in construction to the channels 5, and cut to a length which is equivalent to the width of the package.

When the channels are in place, I provide another water shed comprising a waster sheet 8 which is larger than the package itself by an amount sufficient to form side flanges 8a andend flanges 8b, which are turned down respectively over the sides and ends of the package. The next step is to bind up the package by transverse tying members and longitudinal tying members which will preferably be caused to engage skid members and fasten them to the assembled construction. In my preferred construction I provide skids 12 as shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, which skids may, if desired, be protected with a sheet metal facing 13 beneath, so as to protect the ends of the skids from the wire ties, if wires are used. A convenient procedure is to place these skids in position with the longitudinal tying wires 11 running beneath them, and also to place across the skids the transverse wires 10, then the package as shown in Figure '7, is lifted off of the temporary piling blocks 1 and caused to rest upon the skids. Angle pieces 9 of sheet metal are preferably placed about the edges of the bundles at the points to be contacted by the wires, and the wires are then brought up and over the top of the bundle and fastened as shown. There may be substituted for wires any other well known form of tying means, such as metal straps or bands. In the construction shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, the lateral tying members rest on top of the skids, while the bundle rests upon them, and the longitudinal tying members pass beneath the skids so as to bind the skids to the bundle. The skids will preferably be offset somewhat from the edges of the bundle so that crane lifts may be engaged under the edges if desired, and the package lifted as a unit.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:-

1. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a wrapping of paper about said sheets, channels fitted on the-edges of said pile to protect the ends of said sheets, and a continuous metallic covering over the top of said package, said metallic covering having depending portions lying on the sides and ends of said package and tying members encircling said package.

2. In a protectedpackage for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a protective covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, side and end channel members on said piles to protect the edges of said sheet, a pair of said channel members being held by circumferentially extending tying members, and a continuous metallic covering over said package comprising a sheet of metal with downturned flanges thereon, and longitudinally and transversely extending tying members encircling said package.

3. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a protective covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, side and end channel members on said piles to protect the edges of said sheet, a pair of said channel members being held by circumferentially extending tying members, and a continuous metallic covering over said package comprising a sheetof metal with down-turned flanges thereon, and longitudinally and transversely extending tying members encircling said package, skids beneath said package, and one set of said encircling members engaging said skids.

4. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a continuous covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, a sheet lying beneath said waterproof covering on the bottom of said pile, and side and end channel members protecting the edges of said sheets in said pile, said channel members engaging beneath said bottom sheet, and encircling tying members fastening one set of said channel members in place, a covering for said package comprising a sheet of metal materially larger than said sheets, the edges thereof being turned down to lie on the sides and ends of said package, and encircling means for fastening said package together.

5. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a continuous covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, a sheet lying beneath said waterproof covering on the bottom of said pile, and side and end channel members protecting the edges of said sheets in said pile, said channel members engaging beneath said bottom sheet, and encircling tying members fastening one set of said channel members in place, a covering for said package comprising a sheet of metal materially larger than said sheets, the edges thereof being turned down to lie on the sides and ends of said package, and encircling means for fastening said package together, skids beneath said package, and one set of said encircling members engaging said skids. 6. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a continuous covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, a sheet lying beneath said waterproof covering on-the bottom of said pile, and side and end channel members protecting the edges of said sheets in said pile, said channel members engaging beneath said bottom sheet, and encircling tying members fastening one set of said channel members in place, a covering for said package comprising a sheet of metal materially larger than said sheets, the edges thereof being turned down to lie on the sides and ends of said package, and encircling means for fastening said package together, skids beneath said package, and one set of said encircling members engaging said skids, transverse and longitudinal encircling tying members fastening said package together, and angular protective members of metal lying beneath said tying members where said tying members engage the corners of said package.

'7. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile .of sheets, a continuous covering of waterproof fabric thereabout, a sheet lying beneath said waterproof covering on the bottom of said pile, and side and end channel members protecting the edges of said sheets in said pile, said channel members engaging beneath said bottom sheet, and encircling tying members fastening one set of said channel members in place, a covering for said package comprising a sheet of metal materially larger than said sheets, the edges thereof being turned down to lie on the sides and ends of said package, and encircling means for fastening said package together, skids beneath said package, and one set of said encircling members engaging said skids, one set of said channel members having turned over lapels engaging beneath the channel members of said second set.

8. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a water-excluding enclosure, metal coverings for the top and bottom, respectively, of the sheets and enclosure, metal coverings for the edges of the sheets and enclosure, underlapping the bottom metal covering and lapped outside by the top metal covering, skids along the bottom of the package, and binders in both directions around the metal coverings, certain binders also extending longitudinally under and securing said skids to said package.

9. In a protected package for the shipment of sheet metal, a pile of sheets, a water-excluding enclosure, metal coverings for the top and. bottom, respectively, of the sheets and enclosure, metal coverings for the edges of the sheets and enclosure in lapped relation to each other at the respective corners of the package, underlapping the bottom metal covering and lapped outside by the top metal covering, skids along the bottom of the package, and binders in both directions around the metal coverings, certain binders also extending longitudinally under and securing said skids to said package.

ALVA H. MOON. 

